Vamps Don't Sparkle
by T0ran
Summary: Tori's having terrible nightmares about monsters attacking her. Jade's hasn't been in school for days. What do these facts have to do with each other? What do Sikowitz and Lane know? And what the hell is a Vampire Slayer? Victorious in the Buffyverse. jori
1. Chosen (One)

Vamps Don't Sparkle

Victorious - Buffy

Set after Victorious' ending and about 10 years after the destruction of Sunnydale. So more or less the real time frame.  
I'm going to ignore the comic continuation of Buffy.

* * *

_Notes:_

2013/02/27 - Before starting to write:

On a random note: Bloody Hell, this fanfiction-net account is more than 10 years old! Woohoo!

My Second fanfic. Huh. Thanks again to anyone who read "iJust Want This Night To End". Wanted to write some Victorious for some time, always thought there should be more Victorious set in the Buffyverse, so I decided to try my hand at this.  
I haven't really planned this one through to the end, so I'm not sure where I'm going with this or if it'll be worth finishing it, hell, right now I'm not even sure if I'll upload this thing.

Well, let's do this...

2013/04/09 – After finishing chapter I:

Didn't have that much time to work on this. Took longer than anticipated. Working with a combination of LibreOffice and some free Android-Office-App-abomination kinda sucks.  
I actually wanted to put even more into the first chapter and write the second one before uploading, but decided to do it tonight to get some feedback.  
Writing this made me re-watch some of my favorite parts of Buffy, so even if it sucks that's a plus in my book. I might have taken some liberties with the Slayer mythology stuff but I think it works.  
Should I have posted this as a crossover? Maybe, but how many people browse those?  
Why does stuff look so freaking short in fanfiction-net's editor?  
If you like it, write a review; If you do not like it PLEASE write a review.

_Disclaimer_ (I still think these are pointless, but this doesn't feel complete without one.):  
Victorious and everything associated belongs to Dan Schneider/Schneider's Bakery.  
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and everything associated belongs to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy.  
There shall be no profit gained from this work except for elevating my own and hopefully some reader's boredom.

* * *

Chpt. I - Chosen (One)

Tori crossed the threshold into her room and shut the door with a little more force than necessary. She didn't even notice that she nearly ripped the doorknob off in the process. Would she have cared? Probably not. Her day couldn't get much worse anyway.

First thing in morning she had somehow managed to smash her alarm clock into a pile of shattered glass and plastic after laying awake most of the night again. She really needed to stop buying these things at the dollar store. The radio in Trina's car was broken so her sister had decided to sing herself instead. At the top of her lungs. Tori thought her singing had actually worsened recently, though she couldn't put her finger on what was different, she just heard even more bad notes than usual.

School itself had been quite uneventful. Andre had a new girlfriend; Jade hadn't shown up today, so Beck was free to flirt with any girl in sight without his again-ex-girlfriend staring daggers at him; Cat related some story about her brother starting a wildfire after some trees insulted him; Robbie still tried to ask Cat out just to be shot down again leading to the same taunts from Rex as always. The usual, even if it probably was a weird usual.  
By the end of the day Tori was ready to drop dead. Classes today had been excruciatingly boring and she hadn't slept properly in weeks, being kept awake by terrible nightmares.  
Nightmares about grotesque monsters attacking her and always ending with either the monsters brutally killing her or with her killing the monsters. Mostly the dream monsters were just people with strangely contorted faces; those rarely managed to kill her and exploded when she put a stick in their chests. But some of the other ones were really ugly and more dangerous. Her subconsciousness had to be really messed up. She usually never remembered her dreams, but for some reason she could recall every single one of the nightmares. She almost felt like they actually happened after she woke up each morning.  
Tori just wanted to go home and get one night of peaceful sleep. Was that too much to ask? She said goodbye to Andre and Robbie who went off to their book club meeting. Tori had thought about joining once, but both boys suddenly had been very adamant that she wouldn't enjoy it.  
She went to her locker, stuffed her books inside and slammed the door shut enthusiastically, relieved to finally get to leave for the day. To her surprise the locker received a visible dent where she had pushed it shut. These things apparently weren't as durable as they looked. She spun around when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her and flinched at who she saw. Of course she just had to run into Lane immediately after destroying school property. "I think we should discuss this in my office, don't you?" He stated looking exasperated, he apparently had planned on leaving too. Great, a lecture from Lane for something that had clearly been an accident while detaining him from going home. She just wanted to sleep.

She slouched into his office and even managed not to make a face at the overwhelming smell of hand lotion in the room. Seriously, it was practically tangible. She let herself fall into the chair Lane indicated and took a deep breath. 'Let's get this over with', she thought; the sooner she got this sorted out, the sooner she could sleep. "So, Tori, is there something you want to talk about?" "What do you mean?" She had just broken her locker. She would accept the punishment for it. She just wanted to get out of here. Maybe she could sleep in detention. "You just put a formidable dent in your locker. I don't think you'd do that if there wasn't something seriously bothering you." "No, I mean, I'm sorry. I'm just tired and had a really bad day. I seem to break everything I touch today, Trina's singing somehow got even worse and to top it off I haven't really been sleeping for the last few weeks because I've been having these really weird nightmares about being killed by even weirder monsters and how am I even supposed to put a bend into that locker? That had to be metal fatigue or something! it was an accident. I swear I really didn't mean to." Huh. She hadn't intended to go on a rant like that but to be honest she actually felt relieved. After she'd finished rambling she saw Lane had paled a bit and stared at her eyes wide like he just had remembered something really important. He caught himself, blinked a few times and put on a smile. "Metal fatigue. Yes, right. That's probably it. Well, we all have our bad days, you may go home, just try not to break anything else. For your sleeping I can recommend a nice glass of warm milk. Now get out of here." While hurrying towards the door before he could change his mind Tori heard him mumble something about having to talk to "Sikowitz that fool". She shrugged. Weird ending for a weird day. All that mattered was that she could finally go home and sleep.

She let herself fall into her bed with a sigh. She had decided to try Lane's advise and sipped some microwaved milk when she got home, she just hoped it would work.

It didn't.

She was fighting one of the monsters again, this time it was some blonde guy wearing suspenders. It was different this time though. She was aware she was dreaming. She never had been before. She couldn't control the dream, but she knew it was one. It felt like watching a movie through the eyes of the main character. She knew they were in China, she also knew that outside Boxer rebels and Imperial troops were fighting to drive out the foreign devils from the empire. She had no idea how she knew any of that or what exactly half of it meant. Her foot pinned her attacker to a column by his throat and she was about to impale him with one of those wooden sticks when an explosion just outside the building shattered the window and threw her of balance. Before she could fully regain her composure the creature had disarmed her and held her firmly in his grasp. She struggled, but his grip only tightened. She knew it was over when she felt his fangs piercing her skin. One thought filled her mind:"Tell mother I'm sorry." She couldn't understand his reply before he threw her to the ground. Blackness.

She was in a subway, fighting Billy Idol. No, not Billy Idol, it was the same guy as before, but clad in leather and with his hair bleached blonde. They weren't in imperial China anymore. This was New York '77. 'Billy' landed a hard hit that threw her to the ground. He grabbed her head with both hands. Her last thought before he twisted her neck around was about her son. Crowley would take care of Rob. He had sworn it. Blackness again.

The sky was on fire. There were just herself and a bleeding girl in a silly dress, no monsters this time. Well, there was that dragon soaring above her, but for some reason Tori knew that that was the least of her problems right now. They were on top of some tower. She had won, she had beaten the bitch, but she had been too late. Beneath them in mid-air reality was tearing itself apart in a ball of violet flame. The other girl was crying, pleading with her to let her go stop what was happening. She couldn't do that. This was her sister who she had watched grow from an annoying toddler into a more annoying young woman; Tori had never seen this girl in her life. She felt at peace with herself. She knew what she had to do. Spike, who Tori recognised as 'Billy' who had killed her twice this night, would protect Dawn. "The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Be brave. Live. For me." She spun around and jumped. Death was her gift.

This time there was no blackness. There was a blinding flash of light after which she found herself standing in the asphalt café. She was herself again, in control. This also hadn't happened before; this definitely wasn't one of her usual nightmares. She noticed three figures sitting at one of the tables. There was a bored looking pretty hot brunette in her early thirties with dark clothes and make-up, an a little younger blonde guy in a dorky suit who tried to look dignified without much success and …Sikowitz?!

The guy in the middle stood up and spoke, obviously at least half an octave deeper than he was used to. "Welcome, Miss Vega," The other two rolled their eyes. "you have been chosen. As a Slayer..." He made a supposedly dramatic pause and tried arching his eyebrow without success, the woman and Sikowitz groaned. "...Of the Vampyres." "Andrew we've been over this," the woman hissed while Andrew visibly flinched, she kinda reminded Tori of Jade. "If you keep saying that, I'm gonna ram a stake so far up your ass, you're gonna..." She was interrupted by Sikowitz, who was wearing his signature over the top smile "Faith, language. You two just might remember we're here for a reason." After he had managed to calm the woman, Faith Tori assumed, down Sikowitz turned to Tori, still smiling like the madman he was. "Hi, Tori. Nice dream you're having. This little fella is Andrew Wells, in charge of recruitment for the Reformed Slayer-Watcher Council in North America. And this lovely lady's name here is Faith, second in command of the Global Slayer Corps. She always reminds me of Jade. Does she remind you of Jade? Anyway, I digress. You're a Vampire Slayer."  
...What? This dream was weird, but it still beat the nightmares. Tori decided to just go along with it. "I am? That's great! What's a Vampire Slayer?"

Andrew chose that moment to regain his composure. "You are the latest in a great, ancient line of she-warriors. Blessed with superior strength, senses as keen as those of the very predators that you make your prey and an unseverable connection to both those who came before you and those who fight by your side."  
"I'm still wanted for murder in some states, you think it would make stuff much worse if I killed him too?" An annoyed Faith asked Tori's acting teacher, who actually seemed to contemplate the question. "Eh, not tonight." Sikowitz looked around as if searching for signs of a storm coming. "We gotta get going." He turned back to Tori. "As our little hobbit here said," Andrew wanted to object to the nickname, but Faith shot him a look. "You're a Vampire Slayer. You got enhanced strength, stamina, reflexes and senses, TheInevitableDestinyToSpendYourLifeFightingDemonsA ndOtherDarkForces, and a psychic link with all other Vampire Slayers alive or dead, which allows you to have these visions while dreaming. That link is also how we are talking to you right now. Softens the blow a bit when you think you are dreaming, don't you think? Andrew and me tapped into the link through Faith, using her as a conduit or something, I couldn't quite follow when that witch explained it."  
Tori took in that impressive chunk of exposition and nodded. It made surprisingly much sense for a dream explanation. She suspected that his smile had to be starting to hurt by now. Wait, did that man say witch?! „Did you just say witch?"  
"I did indeed. As I said we haven't got much time. The cliff notes: Vampires are real, no they don't frigging sparkle; Demons are real, yes some of them do sparkle; Magic is also real, most of it is quite sparkly. We fight the bad guys; That more or less makes us the good guys; You're one of us now." He looked up again. "Sorry, but you're waking up now, we'll talk tomorrow after class."

Tori awakened with a start. Trina was pounding on her door, telling her to get up before she left without her. For a change she actually felt rested, she hadn't slept this well in what felt like ages. That dream had been just as weird as those nightmares, but it was nice not to wake up after being brutally murdered. Plus that Faith chick had been kinda hot. Or something. Wait, what? Tori pushed the thought back into the furthest recesses of her mind.  
She got up, showered quickly, threw on some outfit that didn't clash to badly and hurried downstairs. Trina was already waiting to get going, so Tori just grabbed her keys and bag and cheerfully told her she was good to go. She would grab some breakfast at school, no need to jeopardize her good mood by further delaying an already impatient Trina. This was going to be a good day, she wouldn't let anything change that.


	2. Soul(less)

A/N:

Yup, exactly three month, give or take a day.  
Sorry about that, life got in the way. I either had no time or no motivation to write.

But I'm quite fond of this story, so I kept going. Parts of this were written weeks apart, in different mind sets. Might be noticeable.  
Quite proud of some parts of this, not so much of others.

I am planning to write another chapter (hopefully faster...) to get out all of my originally planned premise. Then I want to try and find someone to continue this. As I said I am fond of this story, but I just don't have the time and dedication to writing to do what I had planned with it. So, if someone else thinks this concept is a good idea, message me. You can have my (quite jumbled) notes if you want.

I bumped this up to M, because Cluster F-Bombs.  
Also if you find mistakes I oversaw, please tell me.

Thanks to jvdoscher, XxbvbluvahXX, PerfectlyUnique an DARKVOLVE  
Special Thanks to ScottyBgood, TimelessReader, spiderwriter, Jeremy-Shane and PerfectlyUnique(again).

* * *

Chpt. II - Soul(less)

The darkness surrounding her was total. At least she thought it was. It wasn't like she could open her eyes to check. In fact she wasn't able to move at all. Jade also became aware of the deafening silence around her. The kind of silence so deep that one could hear one's own beating heart. Except that she didn't. Huh... OK... Was she dead? If she was dead, then how the hell could she ask herself if she was dead?  
Stop. Don't panic. Jade West does not panic. Breath... or not. Great, apparently she couldn't do that either. Where the hell was she? How did she get here?  
The last thing she could remember was the club. She had gone to that pseudo-underground rock club to get her mind off of Beck's and hers latest breakup. This time it was final ...again. She had fake-id'd herself some shots, everything after that was a bit blurry. Had she been roofied? No, she had only taken drinks directly from the bar tender and never let them out of her sight, she hadn't been that whammied. She hoped. If she had been drugged, she could be in some serious shit.  
Better not to think about that possibility right now, so back to the club. There had been that Dude. They had danced. Somehow they had ended up making out in the back alley behind the club. She must have been really out of it, that normally wasn't her style. She barely even remembered him. She had broken the kiss to catch some air, felt cool lips travel over her jaw to her neck, a tongue finding her pulse point, teeth gracing her skin. Then the pain and then she had been flying. She remembered tasting another liquid, sweeter, warmer and more intoxicating than the vodka she had had before.

Wait. No. Nonononono. Fuck. Fuck Fuck FUUCK. No.  
She knew what happened. She'd seen the not-so-public PSAs. They were mandatory for close relatives of higher-up Wolfram & Hart employees; they were too valuable hostages. So her father the kiss ass had made her watch them time and time again. Of course she had ignored them all just to spite him. Oh, he would have a field day about this. _"You should have listened, Jadelyn. Do you see now what happens if you don't do as you're told?!" _She could hear his voice in her mind, dripping with contempt; see the sneer he always wore when talking to her. She wondered if the sneer would stay in place after she ripped his throat out, or if he would stay alive long enough to register what had happened and she would get to see the terror fill his eyes. It would be fun to find out.

Jade had been sired. And she was awakening.

* * *

The ride to school turned out to be less annoying than the day before. Trina still insisted on singing herself instead of getting that damn radio fixed, but this time Tori managed to remember the ear plugs she had in her purse. They had been given out at some concert she and the gang had been to a few weeks ago. Since Trina was Trina and thus her attention was divided and solely between driving and Trina it didn't prove too difficult to put them in without her noticing. So Tori could spent the rest of the ride in relative peace and didn't have the urge to rip out hey own eardrums when they arrived at school. She was, however still hungry. The grub truck wasn't open yet, so she had to settle for a cereal bar and a soda from the vending machines. The breakfast of champions... well, it would do 'til lunch. She didn't see any of her friends while munching on the too sweet oat brick. Most of them either had a free period or had to be in another part of the building right now. Jade should have been around though. Tori felt an odd sense of disappointment bubbling up inside at the thought of again not seeing her darkish friend. The only one she did see was Sikowitz. He was walking to his next class and sucking on one of his coconuts. He shot her a grin and winked at her before hurrying off. Remembering her dream from last night, that send some serious chills down her spine. Why did her weird teacher have to choose that day to be extra weird?

By the time she finished her food, she was already late for first period. They had some substitute teacher that day, so the attendance check was rather lax anyway and Tori was able to sneak in without the woman in front noticing that her audience had just increased by one. Most of the lesson was dedicated to a rather interesting and passionate monologue about the life and work of Janice Joplin. Their teacher was technically supposed to give them a safety lesson about the use of pyrotechnics on stage, but when would they ever actually need that, right? Tori sighed to herself. Yup, they were doomed. After the bell rung she made her way to her locker just to find André and Robbie quietly arguing about something. When they saw her, both stopped and tried to put on non chalant faces. The effect was somewhat tarnished by each of them still staring daggers at the other. "Hey Tor, 'sup chica?" André greeted her. Tori narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Hi guys. What were you two talking about?"

"Baseball!" "The apparent obsession of internet fan culture with non-canonical homosexuality!" André and Robbie both answered at the same time. The other two just blinked at Robbie, until André decided to try and change the topic "So, Tori, what the hell happened to your locker?" Tori hadn't even looked at it yet. For her first class she hadn't needed anything from it and the day before she had been both too tired to pay much attention to it and in a hurry to make Trina not wait any longer. There was a dent around the handle that was big and deep enough to twist the metal up to the corners of the door. The paint she had painstakingly applied was cracked in a few places and the little switch that turned the illumination on appeared to be broken. She shrugged exasperated."I don't know. I just closed it as always and the door just gave in. Lane already gave me a lecture about it yesterday." "But how did you..." She interrupted her best friend, knowing what he would ask. "I don't know. Lane thought I had anger issues or something, but agreed that it must have been metal fatigue. Maybe the paint I used was corrosive or something like that." Robbie and André both took a step away from the possibly hazardous locker. Tori didn't want to dwell on yesterday anymore than necessary. That day had been annoying enough. She had to steer the conversation to anything else. She just asked the first question that popped into her head. "Has anyone seen Jade?"

* * *

The newly embraced vampire slowly regained awareness of her body. First she felt the hunger. It was the most intense need she had ever felt. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days, but it was different than anything she had ever felt before. She didn't just need food. It was life itself she craved. She felt empty. And the only thing that could fill her was the essence of another. She needed blood.

Then she became aware of people around her. She could finally hear them, smell them. They were talking, but she couldn't make out the words, but that didn't matter. They had what she craved so much and she would drain them of it. They were just prey. She still couldn't move but she slowly regained the feeling in her limbs and the rest of her body. She was lying on what felt like warm metal, some light fabric covering her from the neck to her thighs, leaving her back and ass bare. The words of those around her slowly got more discernible, they still didn't make much sense though. "Brain activity rising. She's coming back!" "Orb is ready, implant still in prep. Restraints checked." "The ritual's just waiting for your 'go'." Jade had no idea what the hell these guys where talking about, but they didn't matter anyway. The first thing she would take care of was her "father". Then her so called friends. One by one.

She didn't actively despise André. He'd be first; she'd just drain him. Dude had had a little crush on her a while back, she might play with that a bit first.  
That little pest Robbie. Jade didn't even want to drink that. Just ram that cursed puppet down his throat and see what happens.  
Then Cat. Poor little Kitty-Cat. Even in her newly freed state Jade couldn't bring herself to think something truly cruel up for Kitty-Cat. She'd probably not get what was happening until it was too late anyway. Well, at least drinking her would likely give her a nice sugar rush for...  
Beck. Oh, that bastard would get to know pain. Without him she wouldn't have gone to the club. She would never have met her sire. She wouldn't be in this whole mess. None of this would have happened. Mmmh... Actually... She would have to thank him for that before snapping his neck.  
At last Vega. Vega, Vega, Vega. Maybe sweet Sally-Peaches would find her friends after Jade was done with them. That'd be priceless. Maybe Jade would have some longer term fun with the "good girl". Maybe the Latina could become her own little "Renfield". Maybe Jade would pass the gift to Tori. Sire her. Take her blood; give her own in return. Bind them to each other for eternity. The thought alone was exciting. She felt her nails digging in her palms just planning it.

Wait. Her hands. She could move them. It still took effort, but she found that she was in control of her body again. Her eyes shot open, the bright light burned. She could make out the silhouettes of the people she had only heard and smelled before and made to jump off her slab and attach herself to the nearest person's throat.

She couldn't. She tried again, but her limbs just stopped a few inches above the slab. Only now she noticed the cuffs and chains. She was bound by both of her wrists, ankles and her torso, they had even put a collar around her neck. They were afraid of her. Of what she had become. She would show them fear. Those restraints wouldn't bind her for long. She felt a twitch in her jaw and forehead. An inhumane, predatory roar escaped her throat. She would rip them all to shreds. Her eyes finally adjusted to the seemingly unnaturally bright light. She took in her surroundings.

Some kind of hospital. Sensors on her skin. Monitors with graphs next to her. Five people in the room with her, well technically six: A doctor checking the monitors with a nurse by her side. Two big guys by the door; apparently guards, they were carrying tasers, the big kind. The last man was Lane. Lane? What the hell?! Never mind! Then he would be the first one of her acquaintances to meet the new Jade. The sixth was a woman on a flat screen on the wall. A redhead. Sadly not with her in the room. She looked delicious.

"She's conscious. Do it, Will! GO!" Lane's voice boomed through the room. The doctors stepped aside. The guards raised their tasers. The redhead on the screen inhaled and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, they were two perfect pitch black orbs. She raised some kind of glass ball and spoke:

"_Quod perditum est, invenietur. _

_Nici mort, nici al fiinţei, _

_te invoc spirit al trecerii. _

_Te implor, Doamne; nu ignoră aceasta rugăminte! _

_Lăsa orbită să fie vasul care-i vă transportă sufletul la el. _

_Este scris, aceasta putere este dreptul poporul meu de a conduce. _

_Aşa să fie! Aşa să fie! _

_Acum!"_

The glass ball in the woman's hand began to glow and vanished. Jade blinked; what were these fools trying to... It burned. There was a new light blinding her and this time she couldn't close her eyes against it. The light came from inside her own head. And Fuck, it burned.

* * *

She was in a room, lying on a slab. Where was she? What had happened? Why was she tied up? People were staring at her. Two of them held tasers. Another one of them was Lane. Lane. Oh Gods, she had wanted to...  
It came all rushing back to her: The club, the vampire, waking up, realizing her situation, her plans for her friends... Damnit, yes, she had quite a sadistic streak, but her thoughts from a few minutes ago had been just ...fuck.

She rolled onto her side as far as her restraints allowed and heaved. Nothing came out. Figures. She had no idea when she had eaten last. Hell, she didn't even know how long she'd been out. She felt a hand on her shoulder. "Jade?" It was Lane. "How do you feel?"  
She blinked at him. How the fuck was she supposed to feel?! She had died in a freaking back alley, come back as a fucking demon and had plotted to murder everyone she knew.

"Drained.", she deadpanned. Lane sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He gave the doctors a nod, who unshackled her. "You're alright, thank goodness. Welcome to the Initiative!" Jade massaged her wrists, even if they didn't actually hurt. She sat up, careful not to flash half the room in her hospital gown. "What the Fuck is going on?"


	3. Initiated

_Additional notes:_

_Sorry about the issues with the layout this chapter had. It was late, I was tired and didn't check how the end result looked on the website. I hope it is better now. Still not my finest work, but at least more legible. Please read the notes at the bottom. _

Chpt. III - Initiated

Tori sat in class with the others, waiting for Sikowitz to make an entrance. Well, most of the others anyway. She still hadn't seen Jade, neither had any of their friends. Beck had also disappeared after second period. André said the Canadian boy had received a text message and basically ran out of the room. Rex joked that he must have gotten quite a booty call, but while Beck certainly wasn't above indulging in his popularity with the ladies, Tori didn't think he wouldn't skip school just to get with some chick.

She just just hoped he was alright. She was worrying about Jade enough already, she didn't need to add another one of her closest friends to the list. She had decided to visit Jade after school to check on her. It would take a bigger weight of her shoulders than she was willing to admit and if something actually was amiss, maybe she could help her cranky friend somehow. Even if the other girl probably would protest at first.

A loud bang followed by a sudden, violent hissing noise pulled her back to the present, making her jump in her chair. A column of smoke rose in the center of the front stage. Some people gasped in surprise. Tori's first instinct was to run and trigger the nearest fire alarm, but after half a second she realized it was just their teachers newest, if overly dramatic entrance. Some speakers that were next to the stage started playing that theme from '2001: A Space Odyssey'. She waited for the smoke to clear and the eccentric man to appear. When the smoke eventually cleared and the music faded however, the stage was still empty.

"Distraction!" said a voice form the back of the room. They all spun their head around, some so fast there was an audible crack. Their acting teacher leaned in the back corner of the room on the far side from the windows, drinking from another coconut. Under his other arm he had a smallish box. "Have your audience transfixed hard enough on any event, just make it flashy enough, and you could, in theory, rob them blind, as long as you don't break their line of sight to the event. Case in point," He raised his box and grinned. "You can have your phones back at the end of class." Everyone frantically checked their pockets and purses, just to come up empty-handed and cursing under their breath.

Sikowitz's monologue continued for half an hour, in which he gave a broad overview about applications and techniques. Tori mostly managed to banish the dream from her thoughts, but still couldn't shake the feeling that Sikowitz was looking at her more often than usual throughout his speech. Afterwards they did a few rounds of alphabet improv, Tori managed to lose all but one. She just couldn't concentrate on the lesson. Either flashes from her dream or worries about Jade seemed to extinguish every other thought from her mind when she tried to focus for more than three minutes at a time. When the bell rang each of them made their way to the front to collect their phones.

"André, Robbie, Rex, Tori! A word please?" Sikowitz held the friends back. They told Cat they'd meet her at their usual table and waited for the room to empty. Tori mentally groaned. It wasn't his fault, it was her subconsciousness's, but she just wanted to get away from their teacher today and really wasn't in the mood for another one of his 'special projects'. And why did he feel the need to explicitly include Rex? It was weird enough when Robbie acted as if the puppet was alive.

When they were alone, Sikowitz closed the door and turned to the Latina. "Tori, how would you like to join our little book club?" Ok, she didn't see that coming. Tori remembered what André and Robbie had told her when she had asked them about joining the club a few months prior. According to them the books they read were beyond weird, the discussions revolved mostly about Sikowitz's newest coconut induced visions and both of them were in it mostly for the extra credit. She looked at them to see them staring at their acting teacher in surprise. André spoke up. "Umm, Sikowitz, are you sure you know what..." Sikowitz waved him off. "So, Tori what do you think?"

"Errr..." She searched for a way to decline, that wouldn't offend the man. She generally liked the guy and didn't want to risk her acting grade. "Well, I don't think the books would be quite my thing, at least guessing from the ones André told me about. Aand... and then there's this other... extracurricular... thing. That's really time consuming." Yeah, lying wasn't her strong suit.  
"You sure about that?" Sikowitz asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm sure we have some books around you'd find really helpful."

With that he reached into his bag to pull out an oversized brown book. Maybe tome would be a better word. It was leather bound and looked ancient. That wasn't what shocked Tori speechless. What did, was the word engraved on the book's cover in thick golden letters: VAMPYR.

* * *

"What the Fuck is going on?"

"Jade, please trust me. We're your friends. We do not want to hurt you." Lane tried to placate her. Jade's eyes darted to the door. She had no idea how strong she was. She reckoned the docs and Lane wouldn't be much of a problem, but could she get past the guards before they opened fire? And even if she made it, what then? She had no idea where she was and how to get out. As far as she knew there was blazing daylight behind that door and she would go up in flames the moment she opened it.  
Well, one way to find out all of that; better run and die than spend the short rest of her existence as a lab rat. She prepared to make a run for it; her muscles tensed.

Lane stepped in front of her before she could make her move, sensing what was on her mind. "That'd be really unwise. Please, Jade. I will try and answer any question you have later. Now please stay calm." The guards aimed their tasers again and she knew she had no choice. She looked back at Lane, as far as she knew him at least he seemed genuine. She slumped down and gave the 'guidance counselor ' a nod. He picked up a cardboard box and handed it to her. "Good. In here is everything you had with you when, ...well we'll get to that. There's also a new set of clothes. I'm afraid your old ones were ruined."

They pulled a curtain around her slab to give her some privacy while changing. The clothes they gave her were some dark grey-greenish, baggy T-shirt and pants combo. Not her usual, but she wouldn't have to kill every person who saw her in it. She quickly went through her belongings, nothing seemed to be missing. A new glimmer of hope formed when she found her phone. She could check the date and send for help. She pushed the Home button of the device, hoping it hadn't died like she did. Huh, weird thought.

She'd get used to it. No time for that now, she could break down later. Her phone's display lit up. She punched in her pass code. Her homescreen showed that it was early afternoon on Tuesday. Shit, she had lost nearly three days. She also saw that she had absolutely no reception and that she was on her last four percent of battery life. Great, so no help. She didn't see any other chance but to play along and hope to find some escape along the way.

She took a deep breath, ignoring the fact that she didn't need the oxygen. It still calmed her nerves; no need to show them how freaking terrified she was. She pocketed her phone and pulled back the curtain. "Ok, what now?" She asked.  
"Now we will give you some answers. Then you get a choice." Lane answered. He motioned towards the door which one of the guards opened. Jade was led through a hallway, Lane up front, a guard in front of her and one behind. Lane led them into what looked like a small meeting room. Lane sat down at the table in the center of the room and motioned for Jade to take the seat opposite of him. He pushed a button on a remote and the pretty redhead reappeared on another small flat screen on the wall.

Then he looked at Jade and took a deep breath, apparently ordering his thoughts. "What's the last thing you remember before waking up?" He asked.

"I was at a club, wanted to get my mind off things." Jade decided to omit that she had gotten drunk as fuck. "I met someone and well," she felt herself blush. She briefly wondered how she was still able to blush without a pulse. "We went outside together and..." She cleared her throat. "You know..."  
Lane avoided her eyes and cleared his throat. "Right, Well, there is no easy way to say the next part. You were attacked. According to our files your father is a senior associate at Wolfram and Hart. Seeing how serious these people take secrecy in our experience, you probably are already aware of what happened." He rolled his eyes mumbling something about "damn civilians". Jade decided to speed things up a little.

"I was attacked by a bloody vampire. Yes, I know. Asshole lured me in, I went straight into its idiotic trap and was turned. I am now a daughter of fucking Lilith." She laughed bitterly, trying to mask how close she was to breaking down.

"I had to watch some lame vids about avoiding kidnappings by demons as a kid. Look how great they worked, but they covered the basics. Let's see." She counted the points of on her fingers. "I have to drink blood to survive. I can only be killed with a stake through the heart, sunlight, fire or decapitation. Holy symbols are bad, so is holy water, but neither will kill me. I cannot enter some one's home unless they invite me in. On the other hand I am faster and stronger than most humans and my senses are greatly enhanced. Most wounds will heal relatively fast, I can turn others by nearly draining them of blood and then feeding them my own."

Lane looked at her, waiting until she was finished. "Ok, well, that simplifies things. However, that brings is to the complicated part. As I said, we are the Initiative. As an organization we are both fighting supernatural threats and trying to research them. When we found you, you were already dead and your sire, the vampire that 'made' you, had given you enough blood to turn you into one of them.

Until a few years ago we simply killed any vampire we captured. When we encountered someone like yourself, who was only just turned, we had a problem. They were technically still just victims of the one who sired them. They hadn't hurt anyone else yet, still we had no other choice than to put them down, before they could actually do so. We eventually decided on a new, experimental approach. You might have noticed you are 'you' again, instead of an empty host for a demon." He gestured to the redhead on the flat screen to take over the explanation.

"Hi. I'm Willow, good to see you're not either dead or all murdery anymore. We used an ancient ritual to guide your soul, your essence back to your body and bind it to it. In theory you should feel no different from before you were sired. We had to make some modifications to the original old ritual. I am really glad it worked this time. The last guy we tried it on kinda just burst into flames and exploded. And I probably shouldn't have told you that." She concluded when noticing the glare Lane shot in her direction.

"Anyway, the ritual was originally used as a punishment to make the cursed vampire suffer for what they did when they didn't have a soul. Their soul would make them able to feel guilt and remorse for their deeds. The curse would end when the vampire would stop suffering, the vampire would then revert to a soulless monster. We didn't want to use the ritual as punishment, so we tried to make it work without a clause to automatically break it. Eventually it mostly worked. The bindings used to keep your soul bound to your body are somewhat weakened by our changes, so it is easier to just extract it again for any halfway skilled magic user, but that's more our less it. So there better not be any witches with a grudge against you."

"Thanks Will," Lane took over again "We also implanted you with an Amara-type device, a chip we developed and refined using the remains of a magic artifact we got our hands on. It negates some of the weaknesses vampires normally suffer from.  
It makes you immune to holy symbols and water. You are able to go into direct sunlight, but the protection is not perfect. Avoid longer exposure, you won't burn up, but 'nasty sunburn' would be an understatement. Wear sunglasses.  
We can't do anything about stakes and fire ...yet, those are still fatal. But for whom aren't they? Should you get into trouble, the implant also lets us locate you and gives us some basic readings about your physical status."

He gave Jade a meaningful look at the last sentence, so she turned it over in her head. "_You tagged me like a fucking dog._" She thought, what she said was: "So I was turned into a vampire and you guys, the ...Initiative, was it? You gave me my soul back and that implant that protects me against the worst parts of being a vampire. So, now what?" "Now, you get a choice Jade." Lane answered. "Either you can join us, become part of the Initiative and fight demons, stop what happened to you from happening to others. Or you can walk away and live your live as you see fit. We would of course still have an eye on you, both your soul and the implant could make you a target for a lot of bad people, human and otherwise. If you join us we can offer you protection and give you the chance to learn to protect yourself and others." He looked at her pleadingly. "You have a few days to think it over. Don't do anything rush. You are free to go for now, one of the guards will escort you out. This facility is housed under Hollywood Arts, so you will find your way from here. I'll see you tomorrow."

Yeah, right as the nice guidance counselor. Freaking snowball's chance in hell she'd work for them. As far as she could see these guys were just as bad or possibly even worse than her father and the other brownnosers in his firm. All secrets and plans and who knew what their real ambitions were. She sure as hell wouldn't become another pawn in these men's little power plays.  
Lane extended his hand for her to shake it, which struck Jade as weird. When she took it, he covertly handed her a small strip of paper. His face remained motionless, so she knew better than to question the action and pocketed the note inconspicuously. She followed the guard out of the room, through a number of hallways to a small elevator with a heavy duty door. The guard punched in a code on a keypad and had his retina scanned to open it. He motioned for her to enter first.

The upper level exit was disguised as a maintenance door on the outside of a rarely used part of the Hollywood Art's building. As the young vampire stepped outside, she noticed the first changes I her unlife brought. The sky was overcast and gray, yet her exposed arms and face felt like she had fallen asleep while tanning at the height of summer. Without sun lotion. The muted sunlight burned in her eyes, causing them to water. She hissed at the discomfort. Her guard smirked. "What's wrong fangs? Weather too hot for ya?" When Jade whirled around to tell him to shut up he raised his gun again. His smirk was still in place, his eyes begging her to make a move that he could claim was an attack.

She quirked an eyebrow. Did that guy seriously think that moronic comment would be enough to provoke her? Alright, under normal circumstances she might have ripped him a new one, but she wasn't stupid enough to physically attack the dude with the gun. She scoffed and turned back around before answering. "Whatever. Later, loser!"

She walked away from that idiot and the secret door toward the parking lot, pulling a pair of shades from her bag. Her car wasn't there of course, but she just wanted to get away from that place.

Her phone beeped, signaling she had missed a few things while underground. When she it pulled out, she saw that she had about three dozen new text massages. They were mostly from her friends, asking if she was alright; a dozen alone were from Vega. Well, that was ...interesting. Yeah, she'd go with interesting. She had no time to read any of the messages or even send out replies though. Her phones battery finally gave out and the light of the small screen faded to nothing. With it went her plan to call a cab.

She really disliked taking the bus. While contemplating to test out her new "super powers" instead and trying to run the distance home she remembered the note Lane had slipped her. She reached into her pocket and pulled it out:

[_cant talk openly here_  
_JetBrew ASAP_  
_-Lane_]

* * *

**Say it with me kids: ex·po·si·tion...**

**Yeah, no my finest work. At least I was a little bit faster than last time. And it's the longest yet; take that, English teachers of old.  
**

**Thanks to Azkadellio, Quitting Time, TimelessReader, sym1121, Jeremy Shane, Lushcoltrane and Jori luvr.**

**Special thanks to ****Quitting Time and **** Lushcoltrane for helpful discussion and some really nice suggestions.**

**********Still looking for someone to take this thing over. Honestly, I kinda bit off more than I could chew with this story. If anyone's interested, drop me a PM. Otherwise I'm gonna continue to update at the usual pace.  
I'm too stubborn to let this thing die.**

**********I just rechecked the stats for the story and saw that there are actually 25 followers for this. Wow. Thank you guys.**

**********I wanna get this one out tonight, it is late and I wanna go to bed, I'm gonna think of a chapter title later. Suggestions anyone?**

**********Enjoying the story? Please Review.  
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**********Found errors, plot holes, don't like the story? PLEASE ************ Review!**

**********See you guys! (not literally, although Google just added a definition for "literally" that basically means figuratively. Way to go Mountain View...)**


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